


A dive from grace

by Verdic



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: DNDecember
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-22 21:11:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13175274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verdic/pseuds/Verdic
Summary: Even thought Rumil promised she would be ok, Tillie had to sell her soul to save herself.





	A dive from grace

Tillie felt betrayed. The paladin had assured her she would be dealt with fairly and she would get a chance at redemption. The people of the village had agreed to that. For a while, she had been treated well. But after the paladin and his friends left, the villagers turned on her. They declared all of their troubles were her doing, even though she had only caused a small fraction of them. They had torn at her and thrown stones until she had lost consciousness.

When she awoke, she was in a small stone cell. It was cold and she was nearly naked. Her skin was blotched with bruises and dried blood. She tried to sit up, but her body hurt too much. She couldn’t tell if anything was broken, the pain was too much and in too many places. As she lay there, she cursed everything and everyone who had brought her here. She cursed her Mother for giving birth to them, to her Father for dying in a mining accident, to the corrupt priest who wouldn’t cure a little girl even though her mother had given everything to him. She cursed the gods who would create a world so unfair. She cursed the villagers who harmed her and spurned her even before she had come into her powers.

But most of all she blamed Rumil. He was the one who had convinced her to stop her experiments. He was the one who had prevented her from resurrecting her sister. He was the reason she was now being beaten, starved, exposed, and who knows what else. All of her hatred for the world paled in comparison to her hatred of the paladin who ruined her life with his honeyed words and inviting eyes.

She barely notices a set of tiny paws climbing on her till a set of whiskers tickled her face. She turned her head and saw a mangy looking rat sitting on her, head cocked to the side as if it was examining her. She reached a hand up and poked its nose. It looked stunned for a moment, then ran to the corner of the room. There was a sickening crunching as bone and tissue shifted, ripped, and reattached itself. At this point, Tillie didn’t care what horror was happening. She had failed. She would never see her sister again.

“Poor little girl.” A female voice squeaked. Tillie managed to look over her shoulder and saw a naked woman looking at her, leaning casually against the stone wall. “Giving up so soon?”

“What do you want?” Tillie muttered.

“No, it’s not what do I want,” The woman smiled, barring her teeth. “It’s what do you want? Perhaps your sister.” She cackled as Tillie turned back to the floor. “Yes, He knows that you want your sister back.” Tillie winced as one of the woman’s claws ran down her back. But instead of pain, she felt soothing relief to all of her aches.

“How did you do that?” Tillie asked. The woman merely smiled.

“Let me bite you, then follow me, and you can ask Her that yourself.” Without hesitation, Tillie held out her arm for the bite.

 

Tillie could barely believe she was free from her prison. After being bit, she was able to change into a rat and scurry out of the cell. She followed the other wererat for days. They had changed into their hybrid forms to cover more ground. Tillie knew that what she was doing was wrong, but it felt so good to be alive that she didn’t care.

Finally, they had come upon an altar in the hills. She had smelled other wererats before they had seen them. There were a dozen of them: two were adults and the others were either children or on the verge of becoming adults. Her rescuer had introduced them to her.

Tillie felt like she belonged. Even though she had been a wererat for less than a week, she felt more welcome here than she ever had with humans.

“It is now time for you to meet Her, the one who has given us this gift and who can help you bring your sister back.” Her rescuer told her. Tillie’s eyes grew wide, her snout twitching in anticipation. Her rescuer led her up to the alter. She placed Tillie’s hands on it and stood back. The altar immediately started to glow red, the color getting darker as the light grew brighter.

A figure started to coalesce from the light. Eventually, it became the head of an Arcanoloth. The fox’s snout has a pair of spectacles on it and was decked out in finery. It smiled at her. There was so much warmth in the smile that Tillie smiled back.

“Hello my dear. My, what a lovely specimen you are.” Her husky voice crooned. “Now, normally there is a much longer ceremony, but I am late for a party.” She sniggered and continued. “I am an Arcanoloth. I gather the secrets of the multiverse. If you promise to serve me, I will help you grow your power so you can reclaim your sister. All I ask is your service.”

“Yes! I give my service freely!” Tillie shouted, her excitement overcoming her fear. The Arcanoloth smiled hungrily. The girl had spoken so fast she didn’t hear the length of the terms of service; eternity. She loved over eager mortals. Deciding it was worth being an extra few minutes late, the Arcanoloth shifted herself to the material plane.

“Now my dear, it’s just a simple contract, very standard. You sign to be mine, and I will provide you with the power you need to become the mage you want.” She held a paper and quill out to Tillie. Eagerly, Tillie grabbed the paper and signed it without reading. Chuckling, the Arcanoloth kissed the girl’s forehead, sending some energy into her. With a wink she passed back into her library.

Tillie laughed as she felt the power coursing through her. Her mind opened up to avenues of learning and magic that she had never even considered. She could see she wasn’t strong enough to raise her sister, but she knew how to do it and how to become stronger. A snarl appeared on her face as she plotted the death of everyone who had ever wronged her. Perhaps with their deaths she could get stronger.

Tillie explained her plans to the rest of the clan. Her rescuer smiled back at Tillie. While Tillie thought it was because she shared a thirst for vengeance, in truth, it was because her contract was nearly up. She had brought her mistress fourteen souls to corrupt, and she was only six away from freedom.

The Arcanoloth arrived fashionably late at the party, but when your name is Shmeshka, the universe will wait for you to arrive before starting any party. Especially when you are busy moving another pawn into position. She opened a small locket, taking a look at the handsome human and the adorable tiefling pictured inside. Soon, she crooned to herself. Soon I will make my moves on them.


End file.
